July 4 Terror: Alert High For Los Angeles And New York City

Tomorrow is the 239th anniversary of the Unites States’ Declaration of Independence. On the United States’ birthday, the July 4 terror alert is high for both Los Angeles and New York City. Representative Pete King, a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee and New York Congressman, does not know of any specific threat in New York. He goes on to say that “this is the highest level of concern since 9/11.”

“If American people see something, say something. I think that’s especially true for people in the Muslim community, because that’s where the threat is going to come from. I’m really calling on, if they know anything at all, out of the ordinary, let the police know because we’re talking about potential life and death here.”

John Miller, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, says the NYPD response to the July 4 terror alert will involve the deployment “in excess of 7,000” officers. Those officers are in addition to the officers who will be working their normal shifts.

Michael Downing, Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief, did not go into specifics about how many extra officers would be patrolling the streets of Los Angeles. In an interview with CNN, Downing gave a statement about the July 4 terror threat.

“The threat stream has never been this high. We’ve had more disruptions in the United States in a period of time than we’ve ever seen before. We have more of a population of homegrown violent extremist in our country than we’ve ever seen before. It just makes sense that we are on a higher alert.”

In recent years, increased chatter about a terror attack against the United States has become fairly common. Some in the intelligence community view this threat as just another normal threat. Others in the intelligence community though feel that this July 4 terror alert should not be taken as a normal threat. Michael Morell, the former senior CIA Deputy Director, says he is “worried about this one.”

The United States government and law enforcement agencies are at their highest-alert levels since September 11, 2001. Law enforcement and government officials are reminding people to stay vigilant and to report any sort of suspicious activity as soon as possible. This July 4 terror alert is one that should not be taken lightly.